Ash of True Envy
by Mini Paw
Summary: In the eyes of an artist, everything has beauty. Diana Clarkson lives out her life painting the sunsets of Lake Embers. One evening, a tragic event occurs that turns beauty in horror, and horror into beauty at the same time. Sorry for the one typo!


True hearts can never be sold according to a painter named Diana Clarkson. Not a single inch of perfection within a painting can be labeled with a worthy price of its purity. Is it even possible to imagine the amount needed to get close to what this special type of purity is worth? This was incredibly doubtful to young Diana.

She loved to paint in the beautiful evenings of Lake Embers. The air was always at the right degree of density and humidity. The breeze would never miss her cheek as it brushed against it softly. The view from her rear balcony was far greater than anything ever anticipated. From there you could see the rest of the housing developments across the shimmering lake. What a sight to see it was! Something like this could take anyone's breath away including a fine artist.

This lovely and cheery place certainly had some flaws as most places do. The citizens across the lake littered too much, creating a nasty environment that could make your nose cringe. The neighbor to the left of Diana's house never tamed their dog so the noise of barks and howls were never ending. Those nasty lumberjacks are always destroying the beautiful sight of the forests just so people could have wooden stools to sit on while drinking at the bar. This world is becoming blind to the beauty of what God has given us. Who could possibly make a change so that the people of Lake Embers would stop being so corrupt and open their eyes to nature's pain? "What a tragedy," Diana would always say. "Indeed, what a tragedy."

All of this was reoccurring each and every day. Lake Embers was being torn to pieces and there was no way to stop it. That was until August of last year. One evening, Diana decided it was time to restock her painting supplies. She was low in her reds as well as blues, and very well needed a new paintbrush. On her way to town she passed an off-road jeep full of young teenagers who were on their way towards a path that took you to the lake. Some were yelling out strange things that most teenagers do. Others were either singing along to the music playing on their new stereo or sitting quietly while drinking whiskey. Diana took note to who each passenger was just in case something were to go wrong.

She finally arrived at the arts and crafts store located around the corner from the town's pub. "No time is meant to be wasted since the sunset won't last forever," Diana began to say to herself as she shuffled bottles of paints in her hands. She left as quickly as she came once the bill was paid for her new supplies. On her way back towards the main road that went through the entire town, she was stopped by that off-colored red light. This very light bothered her the most out of any of the lights in town. It would stay red for almost two minutes, even if the road was empty. "One, two, three, four," Diana counted as she tapped her steering wheel with her fingers. She wasn't a woman who liked waiting for little things. "Come on, light! Switch already!" Right as she shouted with frustration, the blood-colored light changed to that friendly color green. Off she went back towards her house with little time to spare.

As she settled herself at home, making sure the angle of her portrait was correct, she looked off in the direction of the path from the main road to the lake. The jeep with the youngsters was no where in sight. Perhaps they left home already since school would be held the next day? No, that couldn't be the reason since it was Saturday. She looked back towards the town and sighed. The sunset's greatest feature, the rosy red sky, had faded. The best moment to capture the prized sight had already passed. Depressed as she was, Diana walked back inside her house leaving her tray of paints on the table that stood next to her portrait. She pummeled onto her couch and stuffed her face onto a bright blue pillow. This was the first time a sunset was actually missed. This was a very sad moment toeven think of for young Diana. The silence that floated throughout her house became a nuisance that was dreadful to listen to.

This stillness was soon interrupted by the sounds of sirens. First the sirens were ignored. After a few more appeared, Diana finally decided to head back to her balcony and see if she could witness what was going on. The sight was truly different from what she was used to visualizing. The small town of Lake Embers was in the hands of a forest fire created by the misuse of construction machinery. The smoke rose into the sky creating clouds of darkness that not even a pure falcon could see through. The haze of fire grew with each passing moment. You could hear the panic from the citizens within the town.

Even though this was a moment of horror for the people living near and inside the town, Diana sat back in her lounge chair and picked up her paint brush. "What a tragedy," she murmured, "indeed, what a tragedy."


End file.
